Recipient

David Albright
Institute for Science and International Security

"For his tireless and productive efforts to slow the transfer of nuclear weapons technology. He brings a unique combination of deep understanding, objectivity, and effectiveness to this vexed area."

Background:

David Albright is founder and President of the non-profit Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington, D.C. Albright has published numerous assessments in technical and policy journals, including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Science, Scientific American, Science and Global Security, Washington Quarterly, and Arms Control Today. Albright has co-authored four books, including the groundbreaking World Inventory of Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium, 1992 (SIPRI and Oxford University Press) and Solving the North Korean Nuclear Puzzle (ISIS Press, 2000), which one leading expert on North Korea called the definitive unclassified analysis of the [North Korean] nuclear program.

He has testified many times on nuclear issues before the U.S. Congress. Albright has been cited often in the media and appeared frequently on television and radio. A National Journal profile in 2004 called him a go-to guy for media people seeking independent analysis on Iraqs [weapons of mass destruction] programs.

During his career, he has contracted or consulted with many organizations, including the Congressional Research Service, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Los Alamos National Laboratory. In June 1996, he was the first non-governmental IAEA inspector of the Iraqi nuclear program. In the spring of 2003, after the fall of Baghdad, he was involved in a successful effort to retrieve an intact set of classified Iraqi documents, hidden since the 1991 Gulf War, that is vital in making gas centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

He is an APS Fellow. In 1992, he received an Olive Branch Award for articles he wrote on the Iraqi nuclear weapons program for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Prior to founding ISIS in 1993, he was a Senior Staff Scientist at the Federation of American Scientists and a member of the research staff of Princeton University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. In the early 1980s, he taught physics at George Mason University in Virginia.

Albright received a Masters of Science in physics from Indiana University in 1980, a Masters of Science in mathematics from Wright State University in 1977, and a Bachelor of Science from Wright State University in 1975.